Floor Statements

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In Virginia's Fifth District, State and local officials have been working diligently to attract new businesses to create new jobs in Southside, Virginia. In Henry County, a county located in Virginia's Fifth District, local officials have identified a 200-acre site that has the potential to attract major economic development opportunities at a time when the Martinsville-Henry County area suffers from the highest unemployment rate in Virginia--15 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Unfortunately, Federal regulators, including the Army Corps of Engineers, have resisted moving forward with this important initiative and stalled the

county's permit application because of the lack of an identified end- user for the site. At the same time, the potential companies that would invest in this site and create jobs in Southside, Virginia, are unwilling to commit their resources due to the risk and time delays associated with an outstanding permit with the Corps.

While State regulators have issued permits for the Henry County site, the Corps continues to be steadfast in its unwillingness to move forward with the permit, even though they have issued permits for similar speculative development projects in the past which subsequently attracted new industries and jobs to that area.

Mr. Chairman, this site represents an economic opportunity that could bring thousands of jobs to an area of Virginia that is still struggling with double-digit unemployment. This project has bipartisan support from members of the congressional delegation, as well as Virginia's governor, Bob McDonnell.

Virginia has proven that it is the most attractive State for business and has been recognized as such in the past year. If given the opportunity, I have no doubt that the site would be the impetus for economic development in Martinsville and Henry County, an area which needs economic development more than ever.

Mr. Chairman, I would ask your assistance in working with me to ensure that Federal regulators are not needlessly stalling economic development and job creation in Virginia's Fifth District and other areas of our country.

With that, I thank the chairman for his leadership on this bill and on this issue, and I look forward to working with him.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to pay respects to Congressman Bill Wampler, former representative of Virginia's ``Fighting 9th District,'' who will truly be missed.

Congressman Wampler served the people of Southwest Virginia for nearly two decades, and with his passing, the Commonwealth has lost a great leader and a great man.

Congressman Wampler took pride in working in his family's business in Bristol, he served our country with honor during World War II, and he worked tirelessly for the people of Southwest Virginia for nearly 20 years in the United States House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, though Congressman Wampler is in a better place now, he will surely be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Wampler family and I know that my colleagues join me today as we remember our friend and honor his legacy to the Commonwealth of Virginia and to our nation.

Mr. Speaker, I was not present for rollcall vote No. 302 on agreeing to the Grimm of New York Amendment to H.R. 5854. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I was not present for rollcall vote No. 303 on agreeing to the Franks of Arizona Amendment No. 8 to H.R. 5854. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, I was not present for rollcall vote No. 244, on ordering the previous question on H. Res. 648. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Stated against:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Kirk Rohle, a student at Hampden-Sydney College who displayed extraordinary courage on January 25, 2012 when he re-entered his burning house to rescue his childhood friend, Ben Rogers.

Kirk and Ben grew up across the street from one another in Mechanicsville, Virginia, played Little League together, graduated from Hanover High School, and are currently both hardworking student- athletes at Hampden-Sydney.

While Kirk has achieved much in the classroom and on the football field at Hampden-Sydney, today I rise to commend him for his bravery and loyalty as he attempted to save his best friend's life.

Kirk's actions that day represent the kind of selflessness and loyalty that we all aspire to have, and the courage found in true heroes.

As Kirk rejoins Ben and the rest of his classmates at Hampden-Sydney, and continues to recover from serious injuries sustained on that day, I ask my colleagues to join with me today in honoring Kirk Rohle for his display of selflessness, loyalty, and true heroism, and in wishing him a speedy recovery.

Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Chair, I rise today in support of the bipartisan JOBS Act, and I thank Chairman Bachus for his leadership in putting the Financial Services Committee at the forefront of the effort to advance job- creating policies in this House.

After recently touring Virginia's Fifth District, I am freshly reminded

that Federal Government overregulation continues to stand in the way of the lifeblood of our economy, our small family businesses, our Main Street banks, and our family farms.

Across the Fifth District, I regularly hear stories of how unnecessary regulations have served as a barrier to existing family business owners who wish to hire and expand their companies and as a barrier to aspiring Fifth District entrepreneurs who are discouraged from investing in new start-ups.

Our committee has worked to offer solutions that would give citizens across this country the ability to harness the American Dream by starting a new business, working to make that business successful, and working to create the jobs Americans desperately need.

The JOBS Act represents a legislative package that has support from Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and from the President. This legislation collectively reduces burdens that prevent small businesses from accessing the capital necessary to hire and expand, and it encourages our entrepreneurs to get their start-ups off the ground. This legislation represents an opportunity for Congress and the President to work together to advance legislation for the good of the American people.

Small family businesses and family farms are the backbone of our economy in central and southside Virginia; and as we work to grow our economy and spur job creation, it is critical that we adopt legislation like the JOBS Act to make it easier for them to succeed, not harder. We must act now to put the American people back to work and sustain the American Dream for our children and our grandchildren.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise today in support of the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act, and I thank Chairman Ryan and Ranking Member Van Hollen for their work on this important bipartisan legislation.

At a time when we are borrowing 40 cents on every dollar we spend, there's no more important time for Congress to have an honest conversation about balancing our Federal budget and cutting wasteful government spending.

It is clear that real reform is needed in our flawed Federal budget process. The real reforms that we have considered over the last 2 weeks seek to improve this flawed process by getting at the root of the Washington accounting gimmicks that have plagued Congress for years. These reforms will provide more Federal Government transparency and accountability and put an end to business as usual when it comes to out-of-control spending in Washington. That is why I support this line- item veto legislation. This bill would give the President the ability to veto wasteful spending provisions as a part of the appropriations process.

This bill and the remaining budget-reform bills will give the American people an honest picture of how their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent and will move us one step closer to addressing the debt crisis that threatens the very future of this great Nation.

Mr. Chairman, we know that both sides of the aisle have been a part of the problem when it comes to Washington's reckless spending habit. What we have failed to recognize is that both sides must be a part of the solution.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this line-item veto bill and the rest of our budget-reform proposals, proposals that hold a promise of a balanced and honest Federal budget and a brighter future for our children and our grandchildren.

Madam Speaker, I was not present for rollcall vote No. 37, on the motion to recommit with instructions on H.R. 1734, the Civilian Property Realignment Act. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

I rise today in support of the Iran Threat Reduction Act offered by Chairman Ros-Lehtinen of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and I thank the chairman for her leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that Iran poses a threat to our Nation, our interests, and our allies. In the wake of the International Atomic Agency report, it is clear that the United States must take swift action to proactively enforce policies that will not only deter but completely disengage the Iranian regime from its hostile nuclear proliferation program.

This legislation will take steps to adequately address Iranian nuclear proliferation by taking aim at its primary source of funding, its energy sector, adding more rigorous financial and energy sanctions, including a provision that will allow judicial sanctions on those that conduct business in Iran's petroleum industry.

As Iranian nuclear threats continue to evolve, so should the United States' ability to address those threats. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I'd first like to thank Chairmen Upton and Whitfield for this effort and Representative Noem for her leadership and hard work on this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act. This is a bipartisan bill that I am proud to sponsor, along with Representatives Noem, Boswell, and Kissell, in order to provide greater economic certainty to our rural communities in central Virginia and south side Virginia and across this country.

Since January, this House has been laser focused on advancing policies that will remove the Federal Government as a barrier to job creation and steer us on a course toward economic recovery giving our job creators the opportunity to hire and the confidence to expand. It is with this in mind that we introduced this legislation.

In Virginia's Fifth District, my district, we have a proud heritage in agriculture, manufacturing, Main Street businesses that create jobs and have created jobs for thousands of Virginians. As I travel across Virginia's rural Fifth District, I am constantly reminded by my constituents of how government regulations threaten their businesses and their very way of life. This is why the EPA's national standard for fugitive dust is so troubling to the people that I represent. It is yet another example of the vast expansion of the Federal Government, and it is yet another example of the uncertainty that Washington continues to impose upon our job creators and our rural communities.

The effects of Federal Government overreach are both very real and very tangible in the Fifth District and across this country.

This past year, I spoke with a small business owner in Southside, Virginia, who was warned by a regulator about the amount of dust coming from his property. He was told to take active measures to decrease the dust coming from the dirt road leading into his sawmill.

This is the kind of unnecessary regulation that prevents businesses and farmers from focusing on the needs of their customers. Where I'm from, dust is not a nuisance. Rather, it is a necessary byproduct of the hard work the farmers and businesses in my rural district perform every day, and these farmers and businesses should not suffer losses in production because of overbearing Federal regulations. These are the people who are struggling to survive, to grow, and to create jobs during this stalled economic recovery. These are the people who cannot afford more costly and burdensome regulations handed down by Washington.

While I applaud the EPA's apparent statement that it does not intend to propose a more stringent standard for coarse particulate matter at this time, I remain concerned about the uncertainty of future rulemaking. This bill addresses that uncertainty by providing clarity and stability for our job creators by replacing the current Federal standard for naturally occurring dust in rural America. With unemployment rates nearing 20 percent in some parts of my district, we simply can't afford to perpetuate unnecessary regulations and unnecessary uncertainty for the farmers and businesses in our rural communities.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation so that we may assure our farmers and businesses that naturally occurring dust will not be subject to regulations by an ever-expanding Federal Government.

Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition.

I thank the Chairman.

This amendment would allow the EPA to override the State and local regulations and thereby gut the purpose of this bill.

Let's remember what the commonsense purpose of this bill is. There's nothing radical at all about this bill. In fact, in section 3 this bill protects public health. It protects public health by relying on the State and local regulators who are best equipped to make judgments about naturally occurring dust. And it does nothing at all to affect the particulate matter 2.5 standard. I think that's important to note inasmuch as it seems that the opposition seems to want to forget that.

Let's remember the ultimate purpose of this bill, and that is to protect the farmer and the rural businesses from overreaching Federal regulation that causes uncertainty and it causes job loss.

However, the EPA and the opposition talked about the myth. They say that it's more likely that the EPA would regulate fairy dust. They say that this is a solution in search of a problem. But our farmers know better; our rural business owners know better. They know better because they have looked at the proposed regulations and the proposals from the EPA staff that was dated back in April in which they proposed looking at and revising the PM10 standard. They also have seen the letter that was sent to my office in May of this year in which Ms. McCarthy, the assistant administrator, makes it clear that agricultural dust and dust coming off of roads is absolutely within the larger view of these standards. That's what our farmers know.

But most of all, they know their experience. They know what they have endured over the years--over the decades--of what comes out of Washington and how it affects their everyday life. If you look at their track record, you can only see why there is uncertainty and why they believe this is a very, very real threat.

I am proud to be able to travel across my rural district in south side Virginia and central Virginia and talk to farmers. In August, I sat down with a group of farmers in Nelson and Albemarle Counties. One of the farmers that was there is a peach farmer, a fruit grower. He said to me, Mr. Hurt, on my farm, where my family has been for generations growing peaches for our customers, I'm regulated by the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture, the FDA, the IRS, the Department of Transportation, the Corps of Engineers, the EPA--and the list goes on when you add the State and local regulators. He said, I'm regulated by all those different agencies, most of them Federal agencies; and all I'm trying to do is grow a peach. How hard can it be?

And I think when you look at the commonsense purpose of this bill, you will see that this amendment would gut it. It is for that reason that I would urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act offered by Chairman Kline, and I thank the chairman for his leadership on this issue.

For the past 3 years, we have seen a vast expansion in the size and scope of the Federal Government, which has resulted in a suffering economy and job market and an unfriendly business environment for job creation and investment.

A recent troubling example of this government overreach is the National Labor Relations Board's proposed rulemaking that would alter the long-standing precedent of procedures that govern union elections. These new rules would do little more than empower Big Labor bosses by restricting employers from communicating with their employees during the process, preventing the employees from gaining access to critical information necessary to make informed decisions on their votes, and diminishing the fundamental rights of both employees and employers across the country.

This sort of government intervention in the workplace is an attack on our economic freedom and will only provide more uncertainty in our economy at a time when we are struggling to recover.

With far too many Fifth District Virginians and Americans out of work, we must put an end to the arbitrary rulemaking of the unelected bureaucrats that comprise the NLRB. Instead, we must provide our job creators the opportunity to hire and grow without the uncertainty caused by unnecessary and burdensome government regulations. And we must preserve the protections and freedoms that American workers deserve, allowing them to participate in a full and fair election process.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

I rise today in support of a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution, offered by my friend from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte). I would like to thank the gentleman from Virginia for his leadership on this important legislation; and as a cosponsor of this measure, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this balanced budget amendment.

Our Nation's staggering debt and reckless borrowing illustrate the urgent need to implement real institutional change in Washington. For far too long, Members of both parties have routinely chosen the politically expedient course over what is in the best interest of our Nation, casting aside any spending pledges or statutory caps and pushing our Nation further along on a careless spending binge with devastating consequences for the people of Virginia's Fifth Congressional District and all across our country.

We, as a Nation, now face a $15 trillion debt that nearly equals the size of our entire United States economy. We are running a $1.3 trillion deficit, and we are borrowing over 40 cents on every dollar we spend. This dire debt crisis not only threatens our economic recovery by stifling job creation, but it also threatens the very future of our country.

Given the seriousness of our current fiscal situation, Congress' abysmal record of fiscal management, it is critical that we put institutional spending reforms in place that will force the government to live within its means, just as families, businesses, and State governments do in Virginia and across the country. By passing a balanced budget amendment, Congress will be required to spend no more than it takes in, reining in out-of-control spending once and for all.

As I travel across Virginia's Fifth District, I continually hear from my constituents--Republicans, Democrats, and independents--who say that if we are serious about turning our economy around, and if we are serious about preserving this country for our children and grandchildren, we must put an immediate end to Washington's out-of- control spending.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bipartisan measure so we may implement the structural framework necessary to put our Nation back on a path of fiscal sustainability for the sake of future Americans.

I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act offered by my colleagues, Representatives Stearns and Shuler. I want to thank them for their leadership on this legislation, which protects the basic second amendment freedoms that are so important to central and southside Virginians.

This bipartisan bill would allow valid state-issued concealed firearm carry permits to be honored by any state or U.S. territory that allows concealed carry, requiring that each state recognize another's carry permits, just as they recognize each other's drivers' licenses.

Currently, 49 of 50 states, including the Commonwealth of Virginia, have laws permitting concealed carry in some fashion. Additionally, over half of those states--25 of those 49--already honor the Virginia concealed carry permit.

This legislation, which has overwhelming support in the House--from representatives from 48 states and both sides of the aisle--would allow central and southside Virginians to utilize their carry permits in all of the 49 states that allow concealed carry.

The constitutional right to keep and bear arms and the ability to defend one's self are fundamental liberties which were protected by our founding fathers. H.R. 822 recognizes that these basic liberties should not be constrained by borders or boundaries, and does so without hindering states' authority to set criteria for their own residents, and without affecting state laws that regulate how concealed firearms are carried.

I am proud to cosponsor this legislation as I continue to work to protect our second amendment freedoms for those in Virginia's 5th District and across the country, and I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting passage of this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the people of Virginia's Fifth District, on behalf of the small business owners and farmers across central and southside Virginia who have been directly negatively impacted by the suffocating government regulatory environment.

These good people have been so overburdened by an overreaching government that they are left struggling to make ends meet in these challenging economic times, unable to expand their businesses and discouraged from starting new ones. Over the past 2 months, I have traveled through the Fifth District, making stops from Green County to Danville, from Martinsville to Brunswick County. I heard from constituents about the very real effects that unnecessary government regulations are having on their businesses and their lives.

Just this last week, I visited with a convenience store owner in Campbell County who has five stores and 48 employees. He has the desire and the resources to expand and build two more convenience stores, creating more jobs in the area, but he reports that he is unwilling to do so because of the mandates and taxes that will be imposed on his business as a part of the job-destroying government takeover of health care.

Last week I also visited with an owner of an auto repair shop in Appomattox. He told me that he first started his business back in 1987. Back then, he was able to get his business up and running in one day. One day was all it took for him to obtain all of the required permits and licenses and pay all of the required taxes and fees. After running his shop for a number of years, he then moved on to another job. Then just recently in 2011, he decided he wanted to reopen his shop and found that instead of taking one day to wade through the regulatory redtape, this year it took him 5 months.

If the President and the United States Senate want to know why our economy isn't growing, this is why. These are the real life implications for Fifth District Virginians and all Americans created by the regulatory agenda that has been put in place by this administration and the last Congress over the past 2 years. These added costs jeopardize the success of our small businesses and destroy jobs. The added uncertainty crushes the entrepreneurial spirit and stalls economic growth. And the added expansion of the Federal Government strips away our freedoms and our opportunities.

So when a diner owner in Farmville tells me that Washington is taking the breath away from the American people, this is what she's talking about, an ever-growing government that stands as a barrier between a struggling economy and a growing, vibrant economy that we all desperately want.

So as the House continues to lead the way and works to reduce unnecessary regulations, it is my hope that we will keep in mind the convenience store owners, the auto repair shop owners, and all of the small businesses and farmers who are relying on us to get this right, who are relying on us to support those policies that remove the Federal Government as a roadblock to job creation and return our economic recovery back where it belongs--in the hands of the people.

Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 729, 730, I was inadvertently detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall 729 and ``yes'' on rollcall 730.

Amendment No. 4 Offered by Mrs. Capps